Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

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Members of the governing board of Pinellas’ bus transportation authority voted unanimously Wednesday to develop an agreement to coordinate with the Hillsborough transit authority. The agreement, which would be forwarded to the State Legislature, is a step to creating a regional council of governments that’s been proposed by Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long. Long said the proposal is a “framework” for merging several governmental agencies into one regional organization that can provide regional solutions to transit, land and economic development,…

Jeff Seward, the chief financial officer for the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit authority (HART), will be attending the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change in England next spring, where he will present a workshop on the agency’s work on environmental sustainability and climate change resiliency. Seward told the HART board at Monday’s monthly meeting the invitation came after he conducted a workshop at the 12th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability at Portland State University last January. The Ninth International…

The Tampa Bay area gets one last, large dose of Bill and Hillary Clinton today. Hillary makes her first campaign appearance in what used to be considered a crucial bellwether — Pasco County, for an appearance this afternoon at Pasco-Hernando State College. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, makes his second appearance in the past 14 days in Pinellas County, speaking in South St. Petersburg. With a week to go before the presidential election wraps up, the most significant national story in the papers this…

At Monday’s joint HART-PSTA meeting, HART CEO Katherine Eagan introduced a proposed dedicated bus service that would connect downtown Tampa, downtown St. Petersburg, and the Carillon area of St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport on Monday. Called “The AirPorter,” the service would use a “premium vehicle” that would run every 15 minutes during rush hour (6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 4 to 7 p.m.), and every half hour at other times, up until 9 p.m. on weeknights and 9:30 p.m. on…

Under a proposed regulation coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation, regional Metropolitan Organizations should merge into one large such agency. That’s prompted officials in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties to have some tentative discussions about such a merger. In that spirit, Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long unveiled a proposal at a joint meeting of the transit agencies of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for a “Regional Council of Governments,” which would include having the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART)…

No doubt you’ve probably heard about driverless cars – but what about a driverless bus? Officials with the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) announced on Monday that the Florida Dept. of Transportation was making “up to” $1 million to fund an fund an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Circulator Service connection between the Marion Transit Center to doowntown Tampa along the Marion Street Transitway, a street that runs through downtown that is strictly for HART buses currently to traverse. Officials say the project…

Starting next Monday, the TECO Line Streetcar System in Tampa will begin operating at 7 a.m. for commuters in downtown, the Channel District, and Ybor City. It’s the beginning of a six-month pilot program to measure demand for morning service hours along the streetcar line. The 2.7 mile long opened for service in 2002 amid great fanfare, but has been troubled for years with low ridership. It’s been considered more of an amenity for tourists than a means of transportation for city residents, in…